McCashland Family Vacation, Day 14 - Navajo Lake to Brigham City

We are making the final push home, and it's bittersweet as ever.  We have all enjoyed the exploring, but are looking forward to not sitting in the truck for 6-8 hours a day.  Here's how today went:

I didn't unhook the trailer yesterday so we were able to get out a little earlier than usual, around 8:00.  The drive was a pretty one, going through the forest on our way to Cedar City.  I thought we camped pretty high around 9100 feet, but our drive took us up to 9910 feet at its peak before we started the decent.  I've always been the kind of person that picks forest over beach any day, and driving through the trees was wonderfully relaxing to me.  I was able to just look around and enjoy the views.  

Elevation profile for the day.  BIG drop in the first 20 miles.

We knew our drive would take us past the Draper IKEA, so we made plans to stop there.  We pulled into the back of the parking lot to park the trailer, grabbed our masks because we figured we would be required to have them, walked to the doors........and saw the line of people going around the building to get in.  I guess they were only allowing so many people in at a time, and the line was easily over 150 people long.  Not gonna wait for that just to look around.  Our hour of reprieve from the truck was shortened down to about 3 minutes.  We fueled up at a gas station close to there and got back on the road.

Which, by the way, is a HORRIBLE ROAD TO DRIVE ON!!!  I know Utah is famous for having non-stop construction going on, but this was ridiculous.  No only were the lanes shifting back and forth for the different projects, but in places, they completely split the traffic going the same direction!  The two left lanes and the two right lanes, both traveling the same way on the freeway, would be sectioned apart from each other by jersey barriers.  It was horrible.  I know our trailer is about 8'3" wide, which is MUCH smaller than semis and construction vehicles, but when the lanes shifted and shrunk for construction, I got a little white knuckled.  Add in that Utah drivers are not the greatest out there (sorry,not sorry), it made for quite the contrast to how we spent the morning.  

We hadn't arranged for a place to stay for the night ahead of time, so we called the same KOA we stayed at the first night in Brigham City to see if they had any openings.  Turns out they only had one spot left, and it was a tent spot.  They said we could have it, but it would be electric hook ups only.  They said there was a water spigot close and a sewer dump on the way out, so we figured why not.  Come to find out it's the perfect spot.  It's in the far back corner away from all the cars coming in and out.  It's like an inside corner house in a subdivision, in that the front is kind of skinny, but it just keeps getting wider the farther you go back.  We have plenty of room to park the trailer and still have space to walk around outside.  We spent some time at the pool before dinner since the kids were excited about it, and partook in the ice cream social (all-you-can-eat ice cream for $4 a person).  The kids played at the park for a while, and then back to the trailer for bed.  

I know I said yesterday that we were feeling good to go for another week or two, but today was rough.  The kids had a hard time getting along in the truck, and we are all a little stressed at the end of the day.  I'm sure it's nothing a good night of sleep can't fix, but I have another theory about it.  Anytime you go on vacation, no matter the length of the trip or the destination, the longest stretch of travel is the one going back home.  It could be the exact same distance and time each way, but the travel home feels twice as long.  The closer we get to home, the more we realize how close we are and can't wait to get back.  Yes, we had a great time on the trip, and no, we don't really want it to end.  But there is something about the pull of home that tugs at your heartstrings.  We are excited to have more space than the 192 sq. feet in the trailer and the cab-and-a-half of my truck.  The kids are excited to see their friends, and I'm excited to get back in the garage and working on a couple orders.    

Tomorrow marks the official last day of this journey.  We will make the 302 mile drive from Brigham City to Kuna, unpack the trailer, do some laundry, and be done with this season of road-trip vacations.  We still plan on taking the trailer out to the mountains to have a more traditional 'camping' experience, and we are already planning the next road trip adventure (we're thinking the Hill Cumorah Pageant in New York next summer).  I think I'll let this be the last travelogue of the trip and I'll give some of the more logistical details of our travels in another post, along with some of the things we learned along the way.  

Thanks to everyone for reading all these posts along the way.  It's been fun sharing our experiences on our 2020 McCashland Family Vacation.  Until the next one, thanks for reading!!!